


Puppy Eyes

by lindsaylaurie



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Crack, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindsaylaurie/pseuds/lindsaylaurie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Caine eats Jupe's shoes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy Eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vands88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vands88/gifts).



> I 100% blame vands88.

Jupiter knows there’s something wrong when she opens the door to her tiny apartment and no one is there to greet her.

“Hello?” she calls into the dark room. Not even one light is on. Strange, since the sun went down an hour ago. Something’s happened. Some kind of intergalactic creature has finally caught up with her. And it stole her boyfriend.

She swallows, grabs for the baseball bat next to the front door. (“You can’t be too careful in Chicago,” she’d told a bemused Caine.) “Hello?” A little louder, more authoritative, so she hopes. She is the Queen of Mother Freaking Space.

Or something.

She takes a careful step forward and steels herself before flipping on the light switch. She flinches as the room lights up around her. Couch, TV, armchair, everything’s there. To her left is the bedroom door, open.

Is Caine just sleeping? Or _has_ he been taken by aliens?

Jupiter takes another step and the floor squeaks under her foot. She inhales sharply and curses under her breath as her heart rate shoots through the roof. She freezes, listening for any sign of an intruder, waiting for the strike.

Instead, a low, pathetic whine sounds from the bedroom. She knows it’s Caine. He’s hurt.

Stupidly, she lets her baseball bat clatter to the floor as she rushes into the room and fumbles for the lights. They flicker on to reveal the immobile form of Caine, lying on the bed the wrong way around. His head’s where his feet should be and he’s staring up at her with the definition of puppy dog eyes.

“Caine! What’s wrong? What happened?” Her words tumble out  in a sputtered mess and all the while he just keeps looking at her with those round, wounded eyes.

“I,” he sighs, closing his eyes. He covers his face with his big hands and Jupiter leans over him, running her hands along his body, looking for the break in his clothes. “I did something terrible, your majesty.”

Jupiter pauses, frowns. It doesn’t _look_ like he’s injured. “But you’re alright? Not hurt?”

Caine shakes his head. His hands are still covering his face. He can’t even look at her.

Jupiter laughs shakily and collapses onto the bed next to him. “You scared me! I thought you were taken by aliens or something!”

“I might as well have been,” Caine mutters miserably. He sits up and she does too. She forces herself to be serious again. Whatever he’s done he’s really ashamed of. It sounds bad. She needs to be here for him.

“What did you do?” she asks gently, touching the side of his face. He leans into her hand, reminding her irresistibly of a dog. “You can tell me.”

Caine sucks his lower lip, drawing Jupiter’s eyes there. She wants to kiss him so badly, to tell him that whatever he’s done is nothing.

“I… I destroyed your shoes.”

The words make her snort. She has to suck in a breath to keep from laughing, because the look on his face is still so damn serious. He’s not joking. “You… What? Why? What were you doing? Which shoes?”

There’s no logical explanation, really. Was he trying to wear them? Did he use them for some weird space ritual? Not _all_ of her shoes, right?

A tinge of red creeps across Caine’s face as he hangs his head. He’s _blushing._ Her space dog boyfriend is _blushing._ “Caine?” She slips her hand into his hair, rubs him behind his ear, just like she knows he likes.

“I, uh, I was.” He can’t form a sentence, she’s never seen him this flustered. “Your leather boots. I was… stressed, and, well, I don’t know what happened. They smelled nice, like you, and, I… I.” He gestures hopelessly to a spot on the floor.

Jupiter leans over the bed and there lies a messy pile of black leather scraps. She’s worked in enough houses with dogs to know what happened. Caine chewed up her shoes.

They weren’t her favorite shoes, so she’s not mad. She’s just… confused. She tries to picture her handsome, stoic boyfriend eating her shoes and almost erupts into giggles. It’s _hilarious_ and even more so that Caine is acting like he’s killed someone.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she says, softly, keeping the amusement from her voice. “What’s wrong, huh? What stressed you out so bad?” She keeps her hilarious guesses to herself. Mailman? A cat outside? Does she need to buy him a chew toy?

Caine blows air out through his teeth. He’s still not looking at her. “I can’t… I’m no good for you anymore. There’s nothing for me on Earth, I can’t do anything.”

“Of course you’re good for me,” Jupiter says, kissing his forehead. She feels him relax, just slightly. “What do you mean you can’t do anything? You can _fly._ ”

“Anything _useful_ ,” he clarifies. “If you want to live here, on Earth, I want to help. I want to make money and help with the rent and,” he colors again, “buy you new shoes.”

Jupiter’s eyes dart to the ruined leather on the floor and laughter chokes at her throat. She swallows it back. “Okay, okay, don’t worry about it. Living on Earth is hard, I’ll help you. There’s just been so much going on that I forgot this must seem like another planet to you.” She does laugh at this and Caine raises his head. “Okay, it _is_ another planet to you.”

“You shouldn’t have to help me,” Caine says, and his eyes are hard and firey now. “I’m here to serve _you_ , your majesty.”

Jupiter shivers at the use of her title. He calls her this all the time, but his expression combined with the tone of his voice makes her skin prickle. “While I appreciate the sentiment,” she swallows, practically melting under his gaze, “we’re in this together, okay? As equals.”

 “Equals,” he repeats, the word sounding strained in his mouth. “Right.”

She can tell he still doesn’t believe it, no matter how many times she’s said it, but at least he’s stopped arguing the point.

“Right.” Jupiter leans forward for the kiss she’s been waiting for. His lips taste like shoe polish and she jerks away, grimacing.

“I’m sorry,” Caine mutters sheepishly as Jupiter drags her sleeve across her lips. “I’ll… brush my teeth.”

He gets up from the bed quickly, leaving Jupiter still scrubbing at her lips. The taste is in her mouth now, ick. She needs mouthwash, stat.

As Jupiter and Caine stand shoulder to shoulder in their tiny bathroom, Caine controlling his toothbrush with mechanical, military precision, and Jupiter gargling frantically, Jupiter thinks they’re going to be just fine.

Even if Caine _did_ just eat her shoes.

 


End file.
